


Down Stream

by Kurokosou



Series: Shance Fluff Week 2018 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Shance Fluff Week 2018, idk - Freeform, is it legal to have two people on a bike?, school au?, shance, shiro is a dork, shiro pay attention pls, warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 07:46:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15138458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurokosou/pseuds/Kurokosou
Summary: Takashi Shirogane was cursing the universe - he never asked it to make his life difficult, to torment his poor, poor pining heart. And he certainly never asked it to make him steer both himselfandthe secret crush of his life into the nearby stream.*Written for ShanceFluffWeek2018: Prompt 5: Warm/Cold*





	Down Stream

**Author's Note:**

> ...I know I'm a month late with the rest of these, but I do wanna get the rest of the prompts done, so just gonna upload whichever ones I get finished -shrugs-

Takashi Shirogane was cursing the universe – literally. He never asked it to make his life miserable, to give him bad luck and to curse others around him with that bad luck. He kept asking himself what he did to deserve this and why the powers above seemed so adamant on tormenting him. All he was supposed to do this afternoon was drop off Keith’s sports bag, head back home and polish off that history essay he had been in the middle of writing. Heading to the school and giving Keith his bag was the easy part – he was just about to peddle away on his bike when a familiar voice called out to him, freezing him in his tracks.

“Shiro! Hey wait up!”

Shiro cursed his luck, quickly putting on a casual smile as he turned to greet Keith’s classmate and their next door neighbor – their obnoxious, loud-mouth and infuriatingly pretty next door neighbor. Lance flashed him a wide grin and Shiro was sure he was going to melt just from the brightness of it.

“Hey Lance – long time no see?” Shiro greeted. He was dying; he was inwardly dying because why did he just say that? Of course they see each other all the time – they’re next door neighbors for crying out loud! And despite how often Keith and Lance get at each other’s throats, they hang out nearly all the time.

“I do believe I saw you yesterday, you know, at your house, while I helped Keith with English homework,” Lance chuckled, folding his arms loosely across his torso. Shiro just gave him a sheepish grin, mentally screeching at his brain’s inability to function properly around the teen.

“Right, right…I guess I was kinda, uh, distracted?” he offered weakly. Lance laughed, reaching a hand out to clap him on the shoulder, a teasing smile on his face.

“Being a college student is rough, aye?” he joked.

“You know you’re going to be one in another year, right?” Shiro pointed out, raising a thick brow at the brunet. Lance let out a dramatic sigh, putting his hand to his forehead.

“Ngh, don’t remind me – I’m still a high-school junior, but all the teachers are acting like we’re seniors already! Nagging us to prepare our ‘profiles’ and junk! Like – we have one more year! Let us enjoy are carefree, youthful teenage lives before have to be functioning adults!” Lance started ranting, waving his hands wildly as he spoke. Shiro only laughed, leaning his arms on the handlebars, a soft smile on his face as he listens to Lance go off on random tangents. He really could just sit and listen to that sooth tenor voice for hours.

“Anyways – are you heading home now?” Lance asked. Shiro snapped out of his daze, quickly straightening up and hoping he wasn’t blushing.

“Uh, yeah – I was in the middle of an essay when Keith called,” he answered.

“Great! Think you can give me a lift home then?” Lance requested sweetly. He folded his hands together, staring up at Shiro with this doe-eyed look that made Shiro want to scoop up the teen in his arms and kiss him into next –

“Lance – it’s literally ten minutes by bus…” Shiro’s rational pointed out, despite that his love-addled brain was screaming yes.

“ _I knooow_ , but the bus sucks! It’s crowded and smells and ugh, I swear the driver doesn’t know how to work the clutch!” Lance whined, giving the raven head his best pout. Shiro swallowed hard, dearly hoping he wasn’t red in the face right now; why did Lance have to be so stupidly cute. He quickly looked away, tapping his fingers on the handlebars.

“I don’t have a backseat…” he excused. He heard Lance scoff, practically feeling the eye-roll the teen was giving him.

“Like I haven’t seen Keith hanging off the back of your bike before,” Lance argued. He didn’t even wait for Shiro to make a rebuttal, already slipping up behind the older, testing his footing on the gears and bars of the back wheel. Shiro tensed for a moment as Lance placed both hands on his shoulders, feeling a light pressure as the brunet pushed himself up and down, testing his weight before finding a comfortable position.

“Okay! I think I got it, so just say when and I’ll hop on,” Lance stated with a smug grin. Shiro glanced over his shoulder briefly, resisting the urge to sigh as he adjusted his balance, his grip tightening on the handles.

“I’m pretty sure there are laws about this…” he huffed.

“Laws that you and Keith ignore, like, all the time apparently,” Lance exclaimed. He could hear the smugness in that honey-toned voice, knowing there was a daring glint in the teen’s eyes. Those gorgeous, deep ocean blue eyes Shiro was sure he would drown in one day. He let out a long sigh, squaring his shoulders and straightening his back a little more.

“On three then,” Shiro counted. He could feel Lance push himself up on the count of one, quickly pushing his foot off from the sidewalk and began peddling forward. Shiro let out a small grunt as Lance leaned most of his weight against his back, pushing back out of reflex.

“Ah, sorry – was that too much?” Lance asked sheepishly, easing back a little.

“Nah, just – unexpected, that’s all,” Shiro assured, flashing a quick grin over his shoulder. The brunet grinned back, giving his broad shoulders a firm squeeze, letting out a light laugh. Once they were able to find a comfortable balance between them, Shiro started peddling a little faster, keeping his eyes ahead on the road as he steered. Lance kept most of the conversations going, mostly talking about his day at school, complaining about asshole teachers and the ass-ton of homework he was planning to procrastinate on. Every so often Lance would lean forward, putting his face close to Shiro’s; the elder tried not to shiver at the warm breath tickling his ear, a faint smell of peppermint teasing his nose. He could feel the heavy warmth of Lance’s chest against his back, feeling it rise and shake with every breath, every laugh that escaped the teen.

Shiro’s heart was pounding wildly in his chest, threatening to pop right out of his ribcage and expose his feelings right there and now. Why did it have to be Lance? Well, why not Lance, his brain not so helpfully supplied. Lance was fun to be around, always making the people around him smile and laugh; and despite what he says – everyone knows he’s the “mom” friend. The one that always made sure everyone had enough to eat, always badgering Keith to sleep properly and not binge-watch one of his paranormal documentaries on an exam night. He even nagged Shiro about pulling too many all-nighters in the struggle to keep up with his college classes.

Still – it was strange to think that he liked Lance in that way, considering they’ve been next door neighbors since the teen was eight. Shiro could never imagine that nine years later he’d be a flustering, pining mess for his friend and Lance was none the wiser. Keith had a field day when he figured out Shiro was crushing hard on their friend, taking any opportunity he could to tease the older about it. He called it pay back for all the times Shiro had teased him about his crushes growing up. Thankfully Keith didn’t breathe a word of it to Lance or drop any hints, so that saved him some dignity.

Shiro tried not to shudder at the warmth across his back, biting back the whimper as Lance’s chin occasionally dipped on his shoulder, his long slender fingers lightly pressing into his biceps. If there was one word Shiro would use to describe the young teen – it was warm. Lance’s whole being radiated like the sunlight, his presence reaching out like a soft blanket, encasing the people around him in a tender embrace; the light that sparked in vibrant blue eyes always left Shiro weak in the knees, wanting nothing more than to throw himself into the deep pools. Even on the coldest of winter days, Shiro would find himself overheating just being near the brunet, always wanting to reach out and wrap his arms around the lanky form and hold him close. His hands curled tighter around the handlebars; in spite of his heart bursting with these emotions, Shiro kept them close to the chest. He liked Lance, but not enough to ruin their friendship if the other didn’t feel the same about him; he’d rather kick his own heart silent than lose Lance as a friend.

“ _TAKASHI!_ ”

Shiro jerked his head up out of reflex at his first name being shouted, letting out a startled yelp as he snapped out of his daze. He cursed when he saw that he had peddled them off the straight path, having been too wrapped up in his head to notice. Immediately he stopped peddling, shakily trying to steer the bike across the uneven and rocky path, too afraid to pull the brakes in case they would end up toppling over. He swerved to the right, the bike tipping precariously to the side, in attempts to avoid the stream they were approaching. There was a loud splash as both boys ended up rolling into the water, Shiro floundering a bit in the shallow water before pushing himself up on his hands and knees.

“Shit! I’m so, so sorry Lance! Are you okay?” he asked frantic. He didn’t even bother to check himself for any injuries, only concerned for the brunet as the teen simply sat there in the water. Lance seemed a little daze, blinking like an owl as he stared out into the space in front of him.

“…I’m wet…” he simply answered. Shiro felt his mouth drop open, flabbergasted at the statement before he let out a groan, seeing a playful little smirk appear on Lance’s face. The brunet let out a laugh, holding his arm up in defense as Shiro attempted to splash him in the face.

“Are you serious?! You could’ve been hurt and _that’s_ all you have to say?! Ugh! I can’t believe you!” Shiro huffed, splashing up more water as Lance continued to laugh. This continued on for a few more minutes before Shiro finally stopped, both now effectively soaked to the bones as the stream continued to flow gently around them. Lance finally settled down his laughter, simply sitting in the water for a few ticks before he slowly crawled over to where Shiro was, careful to avoid the slippery rocks.

“Hey, you okay big guy? You seemed kinda distracted,” he asked, placing a comforting hand on the elder’s shoulder. Shiro sighed, sitting back on his heels not caring that he was soaked down to his socks.

“Sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind…” he confessed. Lance only hummed, adjusting his position and tossing a few loose rocks aside to be a little more comfortable. The stream babbled quietly around them, faint chirps from the birds in the trees providing them with background music.

“…you wanna talk about it?” Lance inquired when nothing more was said.

“…not particularly…” Shiro shrugged, eyes avoiding the brunet. They fell back into silence, the nature around them continuing on with its own private conversations as if nothing had disturbed it at all. Lance withdrew his hand from Shiro’s shoulder, shifting his position again so he could sit with his knees to his chest.

“Did I – do something wrong?” Lance asked tentatively, his voice quiet and shaking with hesitation. Shiro snapped his head up to face the brunet, eyes wide and mouth gapping at the younger.

“What? No – no! Why would you think that?” he asked. Lance folded his hands together, fiddling with his thumbs as he bit down on his lip.

“It’s just – you’ve been acting weird around me lately… I mean, I get it, college is rough and all, but I feel like,” Lance paused, tucking his chin in his knees, reaching his hands to cradle his head and hide his face.

“Kinda feel like – you’re avoiding me lately…”

“Lance, I would never – it’s not like that!” Shiro answered hastily. He could feel his stomach drop unpleasantly, resisting the urge to reach out and pull the brunet’s hands away from his face. He would admit there were times when he did actively avoid Lance, but if only to make sure he didn’t blurt out something or do something that would give away his feelings. He didn’t think he did it often enough for it to be that noticeable.

“Why would you ever think I’m avoiding you?” Shiro questioned softly. Lance let out the tiniest of whines, seeming to curl in tighter on himself as he spoke.

“It’s just – you used to share everything with me, I mean we have known each other for nine years…but lately it seems like you’ve been telling more things to Keith than me. I mean, I get it – he’s your brother and I’m just a tag along, but I thought –!”

Shiro didn’t let him finish that sentence, reaching his hand out in a flash to pull away one of Lance’s hands from his face.

“I – I’m so sorry I made you feel like that, Lance. But believe me when I say that you mean more to me than anything else in the world,” Shiro assured. He paused a moment as his brain caught up with the words that left his mouth, hastily clearing his throat as a blush tinted his cheeks. “As a friend, I mean! You – you’re my best friend, Lance and I wouldn’t change that for anything!”

Dark blue eyes blinked owlishly at him, a light pink colour dusting the freckled cheeks; Shiro was screeching in his head. He just had to go and say that – there was no way Lance was not going to interpret his words the wrong way. The raven head let out a strained squeak, pulling his hand back so he could bury his face, not daring to look up at the teen sitting next to him. A heavy silence fell between them, waiting for the other to make a move or say a word, something to break the tense atmosphere lingering the air.

“…hey Shiro? Can I – try something?” Lance finally spoke up. Shiro let out a small grunt, just barely nodding his head as he still refused to lift his gaze to the other. He could hear Lance shuffling through the water, feeling their shoulders touch as the other leaned closer, the warmth instantly spreading through his body.

“I kinda need you to look at me for this,” Lance forced a chuckle. Shiro hesitated a moment, slowly raising his head up from his hands, timid grey eyes matching shy blue eyes. Before he could say anything, Lance’s face was close to his, barely getting a noise past his lips before the brunet’s were covering them. Time seemed to have stopped completely, the rushing sounds of water tapering out of existence as nothing but the soft, warm flesh took up his thoughts. Shiro was sure he had stopped breathing, eyes going wide at the unmistakable action of a kiss. Lance pulled back before his brain functions could kick in long enough to kiss him back, his mouth opening and closing uselessly as silent gasps escaped him.

The whole of Lance’s face was deep red, his mouth drawn into a tight, nervous line and his own ocean blue eyes wide with worry. A stilled second passed and suddenly Lance was making attempts to scramble to his feet, but Shiro shot his hand out for the teen’s arm, effectively stopping him. Before Lance could belt an apology, an excuse, or anything really, he found his mouth covered by Shiro’s own, going stiff as a hand cradled the back of his head, preventing any escape. He jerked back out of reflex, but between the hand pulling his face forward and Shiro pushing his own face against his, he had nowhere to run. Thick fingers tenderly caressed the back of his skull, Lance relaxing under the touch as he tilted to his head, trying to find the perfect angle for their mouths to slot together like puzzle pieces.

A soft moan passed between them, whether it was from himself or Shiro, he couldn’t really tell – nor did he really care. Their breaths mingled together, Shiro tasting the fading peppermint on Lance’s tongue, darting his own tongue out with a need to taste more. He could feel the brunet wither against him, a lengthy arm reaching around to loop around his neck as their bodies were drawn together, seeking out that never ending warmth from the other. The burning need to breath soon outweighed the desire to keep tasting, both pulling back from the kiss with a small pop noise, both heaving heavy pants. Shiro pressed his forehead against Lance’s, taking a moment to commit this moment to memory, a shy smile spreading across his face.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now,” he chuckled. Lance gave him a snort, a playful grin coming to his face.

“Careful Shiro – you don’t want to sound like a cradle robber now, do you?” he teased. Shiro just rolled his eyes, reluctantly drawing back from the brunet.

“You know you’re only five years younger than me,” he pointed out.

“Oh don’t know you – even just three years age difference is a big scandal!” Lance joked. Shiro laughed with a snort, slowly standing up to his feet and ringing the excess water from his clothes. He held his hand out to Lance, feeling his heart swell at the soft little smile the brunet was giving him, taking the offering as he was pulled up to his feet. Lance scrunched up his nose, shaking out his legs as the water dripped down his pants.

“Ugh, I’m soaked all the way to my briefs – gross,” he complained.

“Well that kinda happens when you’ve been sitting in a stream for, I don’t know – ten minutes?” Shiro countered, barking out a laugh at the pout the teen was giving him.

“It’s your fault for not paying attention to the road,” Lance whined.

“Yes, yes sorry for getting too lost in my thoughts; I’ll be more careful next time,” Shiro mocked, reaching down to pick up his bike, inspecting over it to make sure there were no permanent damages. Seeing it still in tip-top shape, he nodding his head at Lance and began walking ahead along the uneven dirt path. “Come on, let’s get you home and dry before you catch a cold.”

“Uh, excuse me? Before _I_ catch a cold? What about you, mister ‘got-a-cold-after-ten-minutes-in-the-snow’, hm?” Lance goaded, raising a thin brow at the raven head.

“First off, I was already starting to get sick before that incident – also Keith shoving snow down my back didn’t help!” Shiro defended. Lance only laughed, walking alongside the other as they trudge through the dirt path, slowly making their way out of the trees and into proper civilization. Wet shoes sloshed against the concrete pavement, the hems of their pants dragging along the ground but neither seemed to pay much mind. They talked about everything and nothing, poking fun at each other, laughing out loud at the jokes they threw at each other. Shiro wanted to hold Lance’s hand, to twine their fingers together and feel the heat their palms would create, but he refrained from that urge. He didn’t need nosy neighbors spreading unnecessary gossip about them.

It took a while to reach their houses on foot, both still sloppy wet as neither of their clothing even got remotely dry despite the chilly autumn air. Shiro left his bike carelessly by the front porch of his house, ushering Lance inside so they could dry off and change into comfier clothes. They took off their shoes outside the door, along with their socks, trying to ring out as much water as they possible could be crossing the threshold of the front door. Mrs. Shirogane would definitely not appreciate trails of puddles all over her nice, clean polished wood floors. Shiro stopped by the hall closet on the way to his room, pulling out the spare towels and tossing one to Lance, then leading him onwards to his bedroom. He pulled out some spare clothes for the brunet to change into, hesitating a little when he got to the underwear.

But Lance simply gave him a crooked smile, plucking a pair of black shorts from the drawer, giving him a wink before he sauntered out of the room and headed for the bathroom at the end of the hall to change. Shiro’s face felt like it was on fire, trying not to let his thoughts linger too long on the fact that Lance would be wearing his clothes for the rest of the afternoon. He quickly shook his head, pulling off his wet clothes and tossing them over the back of his desk chair so they could dry, patting himself dry with the towel and moved to change. He was still ruffling the towel through his hair when Lance sauntered back into the bedroom, towel hanging around his neck and a smug little grin on his face. A small sneeze escapes Lance, Shiro on him in an instant as he took the towel from the brunet’s neck and started drying his hair for him.

“Ah, see! You are getting a cold – and dry your hair properly!” he nagged.

“I can do it myself!” Lance protested, but he didn’t really make any efforts to stop the raven head. Shiro just rolled his eyes, shaking his head before he pulled back, biting back a snort as the short brown locks frizzled and curled up wildly. Lance growled at him, reaching his hands up in attempts to tame the unruly locks, combing his fingers through to flatten them down. Shiro snickered, nudging Lance out of his room and back downstairs to the living room couches, plopping him down on the plump cushions and retrieving the blanket from the corner. He unfolded and draped the material around Lance’s shoulders, bundling him up and making sure he was nice and cozy. He stole a quick glance at the time, noting that it was only 4:30; they had the house to themselves for at least an hour.

“I’m gonna make some hot chocolate for us – you just sit and relax, okay?” Shiro offered, walking around the couch to head to the kitchen.

“All this pampering – careful Shiro, or you’re going to spoil me~” Lance joked, snuggling back against the cushions as he tugged the blanket tighter around his body. Shiro paused for a moment, looking back over his shoulder; he slowly turned around and approached the teen, leaning over the back of the couch and planted a soft kiss to the side of Lance’s head.

“Well – maybe I like spoiling you,” he whispers tenderly. Lance’s eyebrows shot up, dark blue eyes going wide as a fierce blush taints his freckled cheeks; he lets out a strangled noise as he throws the blanket up and over his head. Shiro just laughs at the muttered cursing, the embarrassed-sounding whines setting his heart ablaze as he continues on to the kitchen. A smile stretches wide across his face, pulling out two mugs and searching through the cupboards for the instant cocoa his dad had bought not too long ago. He pulls out a bag of tiny marshmallows as well, carefully tearing the plastic open and dumping a few of the sugary-pillows into the mug intended for Lance, knowing how much the other liked his sugar.

Once he put the cocoa box and marshmallows away, Shiro picked up the steaming hot mugs and carried them back out to the living room. Lance slowly emerged from his little cocoon, reaching his hands out to take the mug from Shiro, flashing him a wide grin. He shifted a little to the side, allowing Shiro some space to sit down right next to him; Lance instantly cuddled up by the elder’s side with a content sigh, leaning his head on the broad shoulder. Shiro felt a warmth bloom in his chest, slowly tilting his head so he could give Lance a peak to his forehead. A settling silence fell between them, perfectly fine with just sitting there curled up against each other, sipping slowly away at their cocoa and not a word spoken.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Shiro knew they would have to talk properly about this – new revelation, about how this could change their relationship, but for now he was happy to indulge in his heart’s one wish. There was also a little nagging voice reminding him he still had that essay to finish by tomorrow, but he shoved that aside. He was willing to trade one night’s good sleep for cuddling on the couch with Lance.


End file.
